California and Great Basin
In the summer of 1922 Edward S. Curtis and his daughter Florence began an adventurous journey by automobile that criss-crossed the coastal mountains of Northern California and Southern Oregon to visit and document the small isolated tribes of that area for publication in Volume and Portfolio XIII.

Around this same time Curtis' interest in gold mining was rekindled, due in part to his son Harold who had come west and finished his degree in mining engineering while working in the gold mines in Colorado. Curtis developed a device that he used to extract small amounts of gold from abandoned placer mines in California. While no great amounts of gold were ever collected, he did find enough to earn a little income during these lean years.

Over the next two summers Curtis completed field work for Volumes XIV and XV in Northern and Southern California. One of his better known subjects at this time was Datsolali, the famous Washo basket maker. While readying the text for these volumes he was simultaneously conducting field work in the Southwest for Volumes XVI and XVII of The North American Indian.

Of the twenty volumes and portfolios that make up The North American Indian, three focus on California and The Great Basin: